


Gone Wrong

by starrelia



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Monsters, Canon Divergence, Cisgender, Emotional Manipulation, M/M, non-canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 14:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7622386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starrelia/pseuds/starrelia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of all the things for Jack to expect when he is called down, his scientists telling him that something has finally happened to Rhys during their experimentation, he expects to see him dead and nothing more than a pile of slag goop.</p><p>What he gets is way better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gone Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [and later deleted] on tumblr, this fic was one of the first few things I wrote for the fandom. I don't really have the desire to fix any mistakes, nor do I want to explain how Rhys became a vault monster.

When Jack is called down into R&D with news that something has gone wrong with Rhys, he expects to be shown a carcass or some sort of mutated mess of what once was a beautiful little PA.

No, instead, when he goes down to the labs he is greeted with an entirely different sight entirely. When the doors slide open and he slams his hand on the wall, loud and menacing, he’s ready to scream obscenities at whoever that _killed_ his little test subject. His mouth parts, mask twisting into an angered expression, but his tantrum is all but silenced as he finally takes in what is before him.

Curling over itself and grabbing at its head, large and throbbing with Eridium, is a _vault monster._ Jack is definitely gaping, eyes wide and staring into the elemental looking thing that wails. It’s slim, slimmer than the Warrior ever was, and it has a long tail – thick and jagged, pulsing with Eridium – that is currently slamming against random bits of equipment. The scientists are all cowering from the monster that larger than them but smaller than the Warrior ever was.

There are specs of gold littering its skin. A few bits of gold stand proudly on its chest, almost like some sort of chest guard, and the rest are resting easily upon smooth, rocky knees. One of its arms is thinner than the other, looking more of bone than it does of stone and Jack’s pupils constrict when he notices bits of electricity running through that bony looking thing.

He watches as its hands desperately pad at its face, wails escaping a mouth that spreads all the way to its ears, to the very bottom of its jagged, curling horns, and Jack doesn’t even cover his ears from the pained sound. His eyes are glimmering, wide, and the creature hasn’t made any move to attack any of them yet.

Seconds pass and the creature is still wailing. If anything, it falls down on its knees now and its tail is poised upwards, tense and stiff, and Jack swallows down the anticipation that clogs his throat. He takes small steps forward, and the creature’s head snaps upwards when it seems to take notice of the sound.

Its hands fall from its face, and Jack’s eyes are wide when he sees the familiar face stare back at him. One eye is a deep brown, like chestnuts and chocolate, with several blue lines streaking it and the other is a piercing black void with a single, small circular gold in the middle. A gentle face belongs to the slim vault monster, framed by a crown that looks like familiar hair and it seems to stare into Jack with wide-eyed recognition. As though realising something, the creature tries to make his way towards Jack—as though he can save him.

But it loses balance, its claws scratching at the ground as it desperately tries not to land down on the scientists that finally run from it. Another wail escapes its lips, pained and upset, and Jack’s lips spread wide into a toothy grin.

“Rhys?” He asks the creature, and the vault monster’s head snaps up at its name. It opens its mouth, exposing long, orange tongue and it tries to speak, coughs up nothing but roars and screams. The scientists all look at Jack with apologetic and scared faces, and the CEO _laughs._

He laughs a laugh that echoes throughout the entire R&D station, a laugh that makes the new Rhys before him cower and try to shove it—no, _himself_ away from Jack. It’s a laugh that makes his stomach hurt and his eyes water, his throat constricting and he can’t _control himself._

Of all the things he expected—incompetency, most certainly. Death, mutations—how long have they been injecting Rhys with so much Eridium and shit just to force him into being a siren? Jack is going to admit, he expected something to go wrong when he sent them his pretty PA with his pretty little devotion down to be their new test subject, but this?

This… _this is way better._ “Who is the _genius_ that messed this all up?!” He yells out and he stalks his way over to the cowering monster of a PA, and Jack is just beaming at him as he stops before one of his reptilian legs. Now that he’s so close, he can feel the hum and beat of Eridium from Rhys and he places one hand on the hot surface of Rhys’s leg. The Eridium seems to pulse and throb beneath his fingers, and Rhys curls further away from Jack as he touches him.

“Seriously, I’m giving the person who did this a friggin’ _raise._ Do you know how amazing this is, gentlemen?” When none of the scientists behind him answer, Jack just laughs. “We have our very own Vault Monster! A Vault Monster with a _human conscious!_ Shit,” he wheezes, trying to catch his breath, and his eyes go dark as Rhys trembles, “we’re going to need to train you, cupcake.” His voice is soothing and he pets at Rhys’s new skin.

One of the scientists comes up to him—a woman with strikingly sharp features and a tall stature and a name tag that says ‘Yana Laine’- and she exhales. “We…” she begins, her words getting stuck in her throat, and Jack’s attention is immediately on her, “we think we know a way to mani—manipulate his abilities.” She takes in a deep breath and then exhales, and Jack’s toothy grin nearly makes her buckle and faint. “The Eridium collar that was used on 4NG3R13 and, recently, on 41R3N can be fashioned to help control him better.”

Rhys wails and scrambles around at that, his tail frantically beating against the ceiling in his distress, and it takes only a glare from Jack to stop the monstrosity in his place. He shivers and curls on the ground as best he can, looking like a cat in Jack’s eyes and he pulls his lips back in an awful grin. “Control him better, huh?”

He taps at Rhys’s shell, traces over the strips of Eridium with the tips of his fingers, and the scientist next to him shudders from the dark glint in Jack’s eyes. “You think we can help my PA look human whenever he wants to? Shift in and outta this form like freakin’ _magic?_ ” Jack hisses, and the scientist nods far too quickly.

“It’ll take time—” she starts and then stops when she sees the way Jack’s lips curl downwards. “We’ll make sure to finish it in no time, sir, don’t you worry.” She says, her voice far too meek, and Jack is immediately all grins and smiles and laughter, as though this is the best joke he has ever heard. The scientists are all quiet as Jack strides away from them, his laughter echoing in the hallways and their heads, and Rhys’s wailing follows soon after.

* * *

He comes back to visit them again, to visit  _Rhys_ , a week later when he thinks that now is as good a time as any to see if the experimentation is going well. Another larger room is currently being built for his new pet and, hopefully, it’ll be ready within a few more weeks to give Rhys more room to move and be observed.

For now, his pet can’t do anything but donate samples of his body for Jack’s research. It _amazes_ him how quickly Rhys heals according to reports; they crack off bits of his fingers, his legs, and rip out Eridium from his body and yet it all just comes back.

There is a giddiness that Jack hasn’t felt in such a long time; a pounding in his chest that is intoxicating, powerful, and the scientists all cower from his grinning face as he strides over to where Rhys is kept. The doors slide open for him to reveal Rhys curling on the ground, shivering like a scared puppy, and Jack’s grin grows as wide as possible.

His movements are jerky and excited, and Rhys immediately notices his movements. He tries to jerk away from Jack, and he immediately falls forward on his front when the action proves futile. It takes him a while to notice something similar to shackles around Rhys’s wrists and ankles, holding him down and bound, and his tail is attached and tied tightly to one of his legs to keep him from ruining the room.

All in all, Rhys looks very much like a bound animal and Jack slowly steps up to him like an artist appreciating his magnum opus. When he steps closer, he finally takes notice to the muzzle on Rhys’s mouth, the clamps on Rhys’s horns, and the collar on his neck that digs deep into the rough surface. Rhys’s eyes are wide as Jack comes near and he struggles hard, once more.

Jack watches with barely held back amusement as Rhys tugs and pulls at his bindings, his head barely swinging side to side, and the muzzle seems to tighten around Rhys the more he tries to open his mouth. Eventually, he collapses on the ground like a horse on ice and Jack takes this as his cue to get closer now that the thrashing about is all done and over with.

He gently strokes Rhys’s bony arm that barely hums with electricity now and he looks at him curiously. Unable to answer, Rhys just closes his eyes and slumps even further – if possible – as if to show pure and utter submission. _‘Like always,’_ his mind sings and praises, and Jack grins wide at the little display. “Look at you, Rhysie boy,” Jack coos out, and Rhys trembles, “you’re the thing I’ve _always_ wanted now. You’re even more wonderful, baby. Think about it—you’re so _friggin’ powerful._ You can do shit no one else can. You’re stronger than a siren, cupcake.”

The scientists in the room all seem to shake at his tone of voice, and Jack reaches into his jacket pocket to activate the turrets to kill at least three of these cowards—the useless ones, mostly. Like the interns. He still needs the _actual_ scientists to work on his Rhys. “You’re my special boy, Rhysie,” Jack says with a breathy laugh, “and I am _so proud_ of you.”

If the muzzle didn’t hold Rhys’s mouth so tightly, Jack is sure that Rhys’s will respond with a whimper. As it is, his once-PA just tries to curl up even further, tries to hide away, and Jack coos and pets him for a while before he goes to gather reports from his scientists.

The excitement is _killing him._

* * *

They take Jack out to an empty range one day—an area in Hyperion big enough for Rhys to be able to crawl in and nothing more—so that they can test out what he can actually do. They get rid of the muzzle from his mouth and lessen the power of the collar so that Rhys can actually demonstrate to Jack his abilities.

He looks pathetic with his tail still clasped tightly to his leg and his stature reduced to crawling like a maggot. Jack merely watches him with intense eyes, arms crossing in front of him as several targets are lined up for Rhys, and the vault monster for a PA lets out a pained whimper.

The Eridium veins on his throat expand slightly, bulging out and glowing as something seems to move quickly within it, and Jack arches an eyebrow. Rhys’s lips part, his tongue now a vivid violet as it pokes out ever so slightly, and he tilts his head back as something begins to gather in his mouth—

Energy? Is that—

Rhys is suddenly spitting it out, throwing it with astounding speed to the targets that are torn apart, affected and glowing with _slag._ Jack squares his shoulder at that then, eyes widening at that, and the scientists look at each other proudly as they dismiss the decimated targets and have new ones appear in their place.

He focuses on the veins on Rhys’s neck then and he’s taken back when he sees them pulse blue, and the electricity on Rhys’s bony arm is crackling. His pet opens his mouth again, his tongue a calming blue, and another quick ball of shock energy is spat out by the vault monster.

However, nothing more follows after that as the veins in Rhys’s neck flatten and return back to a plainer purple colour. He looks at the lead scientist – the sharp woman; Yana girl – and she speaks quickly before Jack can even ask. “We aren’t entirely sure how to get him to use corrosive or fire yet—we are sure that he can access the fire element for when… when he first changed, his tongue was orange, which indicates—fire.” The woman, Yana, finishes limply and Jack rolls his shoulders.

“You better hurry the hell up and make sure Rhys is able to use all the elements—” “Explosion… can’t be accessed by him.” Yana interrupts, and her eyes seem to widen in horror at what she has done and Jack looks at her with a shocked expression as well.

Jeering laughter leaves Jack’s lips, his hands on his hips, and the scientist is cowering and Rhys – Rhys is cowering as well. _‘He knows that laugh too well, the laugh that echoes and scratches at his heart.’_ It seems to take forever until Jack isn’t laughing anymore, isn’t digging his nails into his hips and isn’t looking like he’s going to feed the scientist to Rhys.

“Now, sweetheart, I’m gonna let that pass because you know more shit about this than I do—which, I really hate to admit, you know, given who I am.” The lead scientist nods quickly at that. “So, you better not take too long now, pumpkin. I was gonna give you a few months- let’s say… three. Three is a good number, don’t you think?” She nods, unwilling to really argue with Jack. “You guys were doing _so well._ I mean, you got him to shoot balls of friggin’ slag and shock! But now, I’m a bit pissed.”

He brings one finger up and steps up to Yana, still taller than her by a good bit, and he places his finger on her lips. “You’ve got a month. Make sure my Rhysie has made _a lot_ of improvements by then, or you’re vault dinner.”

Rhys shrieks at that, and they have to increase the power of the collar on his neck to force him to stop when he starts to panic and thrash. He tumbles on his front, still making small noises with his mouth, and Jack doesn’t pay him any mind.

They practically drag Rhys away after that, and Jack is back in his office within moments after that demonstration.

Despite his disappointed face—Jack is _elated._ He truly, truly is _elated._

Who needs a siren when you’ve got a god damn _vault monster?_

* * *

They call him in a few days later, all excited and hushed words as they speak of a development in Rhys’s ability – a small, minor one, they say, but something that Jack will definitely enjoy. He calls bullshit on that, but he comes down anyway because, well,  _friggin’ vault monster, right,_ and he isn’t really expecting anything great from these piss-sucking idiots.

When he goes into Rhys’s temporary containment [because the current one is just shy of a week or two from being finished] he immediately notices that the large presence of the vault monster is _gone._ At first, he’s about to get all indignant and angry, but he’s stopped when he notices that three scientists are crowding around a very, very tall, _rocky and tattooed person._

He shoves them all away from the tall person, stops one of them from trying to collect a sample of blood, and the person flinches when Jack comes into his view.

Rhys. That person is most _definitely_ Rhys. The tattoo on his neck and the odd, long ones around his collarbones are a dead-ringer for who this is, but it’s the extension of the tattoos that has Jack stopping in place. They are light, light purple, not so dissimilar from a siren’s tattoos. Though they seem to follow the same pattern – vague shapes that look mystic – and have the same length Jack notes that they are definitely… more angular.

While a siren’s tattoos are circles and round edges, curves, Rhys’s tattoos are all triangular and sharp in shape. As well as being purple… Eridium? Are those tattoos meant to be pure, maybe condensed Eridium?

The next thing Jack takes note of once he’s done with the tattoos is that Rhys is definitely nude. His entire body is made of rock and he’s lacking genitalia—his chest is flat, clear and completely flat, and his once-robotic arm is completely bone, small and slim in comparison to the rest of his body. He’s tall, taller than Jack by a good two feet, and his eyes are nothing but a pair of mismatched brown and blue sclera.

He reaches up with his hand and cups Rhys’s face, similar to his actual human one [except, of course, made of minerals] and the humanised vault creature croaks and coughs. His mouth still spreads all the way to his ears, Jack notes, but his attention is taken away from his mouth when Rhys actually tries to _talk._

“Jahhhggck.” It’s a pathetic version of his name, and yet it makes Jack freezes as he hears Rhys and three echoes of his voice speak at once. “Nnnnn…” Rhys continues, and he crumbles to his knees from the exertion of trying to speak. He brings his claws up, pads at his neck and he gasps and chokes.

When Jack reaches out to him, Rhys lifts one hand palm-side up and Jack stares down at it. Rhys rasps once more, pathetic and scared, and Jack jolts when a small sphere of energy gathers in Rhys’s palm. “Sirrrrruuun.” Rhys manages out, his voice echoing pathetically, and Jack’s eyes darken.

“Oh, oh _Rhysie, Rhysie, **Rhys,**_ ” his voice is harsh and heavy, rasping with something dark and sick, and Rhys trembles and the sphere dissipates from his palm, “you really are my most special boy.” Jack says, his words oddly soft, and Rhys lets out an upset moan. “Shh, shhhh.”

He takes the crumbled man into his arms and cradles him, pets the makeshift hair on Rhys’s head, and Jack forces his head back so that Rhys’s eyes are looking up at him. “You’re such a good thing, such a good thing—and when we learn how we can turn you back into a vault monster, we’re going to have _so much for you to do, baby.”_

A pathetic sob escapes Rhys, and he trembles in Jack’s grasp as tears actually escape the poor, little pet. Overwhelmed with the good news for sure, Jack thinks with a grin as he cradles and comforts his little trophy, his new way to victory. “I’m so proud of you; you’ve done so much for me. So, so much.” He presses a kiss to the area near Rhys’s lips, the sensation rough and jagged again Jack’s mouth, but he has no complaints.

“We’re going to fix Pandora together, princess.” Jack says, his voice heavy and ecstatic, and the scientists in the room swallow thickly. “We’re going to be heroes _._ Remember that, cupcake. We’re going to be **_heroes._** ”

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, please consider commenting and letting me know.


End file.
